People are way more than their religion. Religion is not such a profoundly defining thing that one can be judged on the basis on what religion they ascribe to. The question "What do you think of people belonging to X-religion" is absurd from this perspective.

It's interesting to note that this is fundamentally not true in many countries. This would be called heretical and can be punished. There are countries that will kill you if you are not Muslim. Answering Your Hypothetical Question Is a Matter of Life and Death. Luckily, in first world nations,we don't have this problem. Freedom of speech AND thought is not a given!

I like them (: Some of my friends are Muslims, they're wonderful people. All religions have stupid people, you can't blame the whole religion based off of a couple ppl

...but ppl do it anyway with the Christians & Muslims. Oddly enough I haven't seen that done (at least in this country) with other religions. I guess it's 'cause they're the ones with the highest number of adherents ....that probably scares ppl.

i'm very conflicted about this religion because while you get universal themes of loving god,your family,your neighbor and your country.it also has stuff like female circumcision,"honor killings",has spread by conquest more than by preaching.there is respect for other religions but at the price of paying a special tax or" iyar/z tax"

also,they believe in jesus but only believe him to be just another prophet and thus they dont believe in his crucifixion and resurrection which is a deal breaker for me.they also dont believe in the original sin and seems to have a "works" type "salvation"(facing to mecca,praying 5 times at least,observing foods etc etc) instead of a free grace salvation stated in the gospels.also,islam means submission to the will of allah and not love as some misguided muslims in western countries tries to portray.

they are not monolitic as they themselves say there are,because there are two main sects which are the shia and the sunni.which from those two branches out smaller sects and school of thoughts.from folk islam,sufi islam,alawaites,druzes?,wahabbis etc etc etc

also, they claim to be monotheistic but they run around the Kaaba in mecca which contains a large meteorite that fell from the heavens.also,allah means god in the arabian peninsula and africa and the near east but in mohamed's time was also the name of the moon god of the arabian peninsula.

lastly,their holy book is the koran or q'ran but they kind of respect the jewish torah and the gospels while in the hadith which are sayings of their prophet they condemn the people of the book to death,if necessary.well, thats all i know about this religion...my 2 cents

edit:they also believe that there is no trinity and that god and the angels have always existed
second edit: as for muslims themselves,well,there are good and bad ones like in any religion or society on this earth

I respect them a lot, and I think they're really nice and flexible people.
I meet them as patients, or as my patients' families. I have a muslim friend too and she's really cool.
Even if our religions are different, that doesn't make them difficult people we can;t get along with.

People are way more than their religion. Religion is not such a profoundly defining thing that one can be judged on the basis on what religion they ascribe to. The question "What do you think of people belonging to X-religion" is absurd from this perspective.

It's interesting to note that this is fundamentally not true in many countries. This would be called heretical and can be punished. There are countries that will kill you if you are not Muslim. Answering Your Hypothetical Question Is a Matter of Life and Death. Luckily, in first world nations,we don't have this problem. Freedom of speech AND thought is not a given!

The problem is Muslim covers a broad brush. Yes it's probably your nice neighbour Bob. But he probably doesn't talk about his faith much to you, anymore than you talk about what you do (or don't do) on Sundays (or Saturdays as the case may be)

Unfortunately Just as most people's perceptions of Christianity are influenced by the actions and statements of it's representatives (The Pope, The Patriarch, The Metropole, the ArchBishop of Cantebury etc. OR the clergy in general). So do rank and file Muslims suffer as a result the actions of a few.

Are the most of the Catholic Clergy child molestors? No. Does the corporate entity called the Roman Catholic Church owe some responsibility for the way it has harboured and concealed child molestors among the ranks of it's clergy? Maybe. Certainly there is evidence and an argument that the current leadership has SOME responsibility.

Do we individually name the lunatics from the Westboro baptist church and classify their behaviour on individual terms? No we lump that entire extended family together as a cult. (Cult: What a Big Congregation calls a Small Congregation)

Back to The responsibilities of leadership. Has Pope recently issued a Papal Bull calling for Dan Brown's death? heck in the last hundred years, has the Pope issued a Papal Bull calling for anyone's death?

Salmon Rushdie and many of the people around him, and/or involved in the publication of his now 30 year old book, still seem to have reason to fear for their lives due to a Fatwah issued by an Ayatollah. How many Muslims have you heard step up and disagree with that situation?

What is so important about a headscarf or veil that a girl needs to get her head shaved, or acid sprayed in her face to make sure all women wear it? Where does it say in ANY holy book. "Thou shalt be disfigured for violating the unwritten dress code"

Some people deal with issues like the above with simpleminded hate. and lumping all Muslims together. Others are more open minded. But let's not forget these issues exist.